Recommendation 10

To ensure POUs can deploy at a reasonable time, Boards and Chiefs should consider the factors under the CSPA and build capacity of PLTs to support planning strategies, as appropriate 

 

Police service boards should confirm with their Chiefs that the service is, at a minimum, and pursuant to subsection 7(2)(1)(i) of Ontario Regulation 392/23 of the CSPA, meeting the deployment requirements in terms of the complement of their POU. This includes deploying a minimum of one section consisting of 32 police officers including a section leader and a POU commander in a reasonable time. 

 

Boards should ensure that a POU is able to be deployed in a reasonable time, having regard to the new factors set out in the CSPA, namely:

 

  1. the policing needs of the community,
  2. the geographic and socio-demographic characteristics of the police service’s area of policing responsibility,
  3. the total population and population density of the police service’s area of policing responsibility,
  4. the presence of critical infrastructure in the location where the POU is to be deployed,
  5. information about public order incidents in the police service’s area of policing responsibility within at least the previous three years, including information about the scope and severity of the incidents, and,
  6. best practices in relation to response times for POUs. 

 

The IG encourages services, boards and stakeholders to cooperate in developing some type of analytical approach to determining what a reasonable time is. The IG would ultimately determine in the future whether the reasonable standard is met, but a cooperative approach now can assist in creating some consistency in the model.

 

In addition, PLT network between services could, where appropriate, share intelligence, combine strategies to engage demonstrators, promote education and work towards lawful, safe and peaceful events. To aid in this approach, Chiefs of Police are encouraged to embed PLTs into their public order training to support their readiness and involvement in public order responses, where appropriate and at the discretion of the service. 

 

Furthermore, the Ministry and Chiefs of Police should collaborate to ensure consistent training for PLTs across the province to support interoperability between services on joint service public order responses. 

 

iii. Embedded Fire and Paramedic Emergency Medical Services

 

The IoP observed that many POUs effectively embed fire and paramedic services as part of their POUs. These fire and paramedic members receive initial training and participate in annual POU training. Recognizing this could be more challenging for fire and paramedic participation in regional services and for the OPP, those that do have fire and paramedics embedded in their POUs speak favorably of their involvement and increased public and police safety during deployments. Although not mandated, continued work by police services to include and integrate these vital partners enhance a police service’s ability to more fulsomely respond to public and officer safety issues that can arise in public order maintenance deployments.